Plant Quality Undergraduate Review

My internship was a great insight into the workings of a large automotive manufacturer. The scale and detail that goes into even the smallest aspects surprised me. I believe it helped me develop into seeing manufacturing in a new light, as I originally wanted to go into design engineering, but I am now going to consider manufacturing as a serious option.

My manager gave me full responsibility for several mini projects, which involved investigation and then presenting documents to him with the information I had collected. The fact that he left me to my own devices to complete the work, made me feel valued, as I was trusted to do the work correct and to a high standard. Another way in which I felt valued was when covering a graduates job for 2 weeks whilst they were on training. I was treated exactly the same as any full time employee. My manager also commented at the end of my internship that he wished I could have stayed several weeks longer.

My manager was extremely helpful, especially in the first few days. Manufacturing is a fast paced and stressful environment, yet my manager always had time to explain aspects and process I wasn't sure about. The same applies to the graduate I was in line to cover. They spend a few weeks training me up, to ensure that I was able to carry out their roles as if they were there. This was very encouraging, as it gave me the ability to speak to full time employees, who in some cases thought I was also a full time employee, to gain the information I required.

The start of the internship was slow in terms of work, due to spending most of my time trying to understand terminology and processes that had to be followed. I was also sent on several tours of the plant to understand the full working. Once I was given mini projects the work load vastly increased. During the time I was covering the graduate I was extremely busy, and in some cases had to ask for help from other members of staff. The work slowly decreased towards the end of my placement as I handed over tasks back to full time employees.

I was given a lot more responsibility than I was expecting during my placement. I was always told that they treated you like full time employees, but I never believed this statement. However once in my placement, I was given lots of responsibility, which is evident from the mini projects, and also the trust given to me in covering a graduates job for over 2 weeks.

The skills I developed were more focused on actually being in a large company and how to prepare work and get access to the information you require. These skills will definitely help me past my degree, more so than in the last year of my degree. However the time management skills and prioritisation of certain pieces of work, will definitely assist me in the Formula Student MEng project I am now currently working on. I would add, that my manager was very helpful and gave me various tips and hints for my career. Although these are not necessarily skills, they were certainly helpful.

The atmosphere in my office was brilliant. Everyday there were jokes flying around. Anybody in the office would help me where I needed it. Other benefits were the amount of biscuits and cakes people brought in for various celebrations. External to my office, my manager was very important in keeping the team happy, as he never got anyone down, only encouraged. I do believe I was lucky though as other interns said they had dull and boring offices.

Some areas of the placement were very well organised. The workload increase and then decrease for the main 10 weeks of the 12 week placement was well thought out and well distributed, although I believe this was down to my manager. The introduction to the Solihull plant was less well organised with poor communication on how to get the plant and also where the meeting locations were. These points should be changed for the 2016 summer though as myself and other interns informed the overall intern manager of the shortfalls.

There wasn't much training available external to the company, although during my placement I had to set and reach personal objectives. The objectives were set by myself and some added by my manager and then reviewed afterwards. This was beneficial for personal development, learning where to improve and highlighting on areas which I did well .

At the end of the placement, your manager informs HR whether or not they believe you should be offered a job. This decision is based upon your self review, which your manager then reviews and gives you a performance tier. The bottom tier basically rules you out of gaining either another placement the following year or a graduate job. The second tier leads to consideration, with the top 3 tiers leading to you being informally invited back, provided they have space. (or at least this is how I understand it from speaking to other interns.) I am currently waiting for a formal offer, after being given tier 3 by my manager.

The social scene amongst fellow placement students was brilliant. A local University Halls company contacted JLR and they passed on the information to all the incoming interns. I think over half the interns ended up living in the halls together. This allowed for a good social scene, with things occurring every weekend. During the week, about 40 of the guys played 6aside football once a week and another night, people would go out to a local bar for drinks.

The cost of living was not bad. I paid £980 for 12 weeks in the halls all the interns lived in. The cost of living was kept down through making all my food from scratch and buying from the Lidl down the road from the halls. Socialising wasn't expensive. There are 3 Wetherspoons in Coventry, so cheap drinks for socials were not a problem, and the club we all would go to on a night out wasn't expensive either. Comparable to living at University, if you know how to keep control of your budget. There were plenty of drivers as well, so lots of people lift shared reducing travel costs. I think I had about a third of the money left at the end of the placement, which included multiple trips home, a couple of weddings and running my car.

The were 3 Wetherspoons and a few bars locally. There was also a club which was always open on the weekends. The club wasn't much to look at, but the drinks were cheap and with good music and different rooms depending on what you like. There was also a massive outdoor area, which was really good when it got a bit too warm. The area surround the club wasn't very pleasant though, which isn't great when you leave after a night out..

Outside of work, it is kind of up to the individual to sort out things for themselves. There are some opportunities to join in with the graduate group at JLR though. As previously mentioned the undergrads I lived with managed to organise football once a week. I also went to the closest lacrosse club to play, but that had nothing to do with JLR, and was discovered off my own back.